Informed Discussant Work

Part Two: Read Extra Materials and Create Annotation

For this part of the assignment, you will do some additional research and reading to contribute to your reading of the assigned course texts. You will use either J-Stor or Project Muse, two research databases available via the UW Libraries Homepage.

Project Muse link: https://muse-jhu-edu.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/browseLinks to an external site.

JSTOR link: https://www-jstor-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/Links to an external site.

You should find one PEER-REVIEWED scholarly article (not a book review or any other kind of article) to read to enable you to bring additional academic perspectives to our course texts. (You will need to make sure your search is for peer-reviewed articles only. If you aren’t sure, please contact me.)

For most of you, this will mean finding a peer-reviewed article that deals directly with one of course texts. For instance, if your Informed Discussant work is scheduled for one of the day’s we are discussing Toni Morrison’s Sula, you may read one of the many published academic articles about Sula. However, you may also choose to find another article relevant to our collective reading that does not directly address our course texts. For example, you might find a critical article that discusses Black feminist fiction writers that adds to your understanding/analysis of Morrison’s Sula, even if it doesn’t address Sula directly.

Your task is to read the article you find and then type a brief “Annotated Bibliography” entry—or annotation—about it. The annotation will consist of a citation, which includes publication information in MLA or another accepted academic citation format (such as Chicago or APA), followed by your annotation.

Your end result will look something like this:

Your Name

Dr. Jed Murr

BIS 379

22 February 2023

Benedikt, Michael. “Cyberspace: First Steps.” The Cybercultures Reader. Eds. David Bell and Barbara Kennedy. New York: Routledge, 2000. 29-44.

Your annotations follow the entry. Your annotations should include roughly four to six sentences of summary and paraphrase (briefly detail what kind of text it is; summarize main ideas and main points; paraphrase main arguments and the writer’s position or stance; directly quote useful portions or pieces of information that are better quoted than summarized) and three to four sentences of critical evaluation or analysis, focused on why the text is useful or relevant as a resource for our course, how it connects specifically to the day’s assigned texts, and what questions or insights it raises for you as a reader.

Further questions you might think about as you (re)read:

What is the primary claim(s) or argument(s) of the article?

What rhetorical strategies are being used—that is, how does the author construct the arguments she, he or they make(s)—and how effective do you think they are?

How are the stakes of the argument—why it matters—articulated in the text?

What forms of evidence does the text draw on to support its arguments?

How does the text help you to conceptualize American Ethnic Literatures and/or the particular text(s) we are reading?

part 2

Vision of Mathematics Statement

The readings, activities and experiences of this course have been designed to expand your thinking about what doing, teaching, and learning mathematics entails. This assignment is designed to give you a chance to make connections across our course experiences and to articulate ideas that have resonated for you about mathematics itself and about mathematics teaching and learning this quarter.  You will also be asked to consider the implications of these ideas for work with children in schools and/or for your own relationship to mathematics.

To write your statement, select two big ideas that have emerged for you from course readings, resources, activities, and experiences about mathematics and/or the teaching and learning of mathematics.  For each of your big ideas you will:

Clearly state the big idea in a heading for each section (e.g., Big idea #1: Mathematics is about experimentation and play.) 

Offer at least two quotes from readings and/or videos from the course that shaped your thinking about this idea. Use these citations to support, explain, or clarify your idea and why it is important. 

Discuss what feels so important or interesting about this idea for you and why you’ve chosen it. You are, as always, welcome and encouraged to make connections between your own lived experiences and the ideas that you have encountered in this course.

Make explicit connection to at least one other course experience, reading, or activity that shaped your thinking about this idea and talk about your learning.

Include a paragraph that discusses your current thinking about the implications of this big idea for work with children and/or for your own feelings about mathematics. For example, you might explain how this idea is causing you to think differently about your interactions with children in a tutoring setting, about a future classroom, about what it might mean to raise mathematically powerful children. You might also consider implications for your own daily interactions with/feelings about mathematics.